Larry King Late Night Wars Cold Opening - Saturday Night Live

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Larry offers his take on the late night state of affairs. Aired 01/16/10
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[@mockbeggar9641]

Jason's Letterman is the stuff of nightmares!!

[@TryMyMartini]

It’s like if Letterman were a Batman villain from the 50’s.

[@sarathck5076]

Exactly what I was thinking 😂

[@canaisyoung3601]

Every white guy who has played David Letterman on this show is spot-on: Joe Piscopo, Norm MacDonald, Jason Sudeikis, even forgotten SNL and MADtv cast member, Jeff Richards.

[@miguelpatrick79]

@@user-hk7xm5pu1c relax relax I'm pretty sure she didn't mean nothing by it grow some skin

[@NotDingse]

He looks kinda like Elton

[@Sener]

I love it how Armisen's Larry King just keeps roasting himself.

[@nurmadihahbintizulkifli1734]

yeah the way he stares at the camera after saying the punch line XD

[@benjrivera21]

Conan wasn't made to look funny. He was made to look angry and sullen which isn't a Conan thing at all. And yet still he was so much more likeable than Leno

[@marksoquetjr4693]

Yep

[@seattleite6631]

He was pretty bitter at the time.

[@josephabreu6042]

@@seattleite6631 yeah, but walking away with millions in your bank account should ease some of that bitterness especially since some of us would give almost anything to have a roof over our head and maybe a hot meal now and then. and, in a way, it doesn’t matter how hard you worked or how talented you are. that is a result of being blessed by a higher power and some good luck along the way.

[@HueyRocks23]

@@josephabreu6042 Conan took that payout he got from NBC to walk away and paid his staff with it until he got the TBS show. Also this is a supposed portrayal of Conan's attitude at the time. We don't really know what he went through during this period. We may never know either because he doesn't like talking about it. The closest we have is the doc film "Can't Stop" he made of his tour that happened a few months after.

[@msminmichigan]

He was very depressed after he left the Tonight Show.

[@johnulcer]

I'm amazed that Hammond isn't getting more praise for his Leno impression. Part of me thinks it's just because people hate Leto so much and the impression is so spot-on. He's got the vocal inflections and mannerisms down to a science...Hammond was always under-appreciated.

[@stevenloube6784]

That was maybe the only funny part of the skit, but the skit is so God fucking awful that I was sad re-watching it.

[@BM-ff6oq]

@@stevenloube6784 could’ve been much funnier

[@Adamdidit]

@@BM-ff6oq i think the performers were too personally invested to make it funnier they were mad

[@gallery7596]

Yes, terrific Jay impression by Darryl. Jason's Letterman was credible, but after a while the giggling and pencil throwing got annoying.

[@sododgy8338]

I think it's more that Hammond's impressions were always so *absurdly* good, that it's just taken for granted. "Oh Darryl Hammond did an amazing impression? Is water still wet? Yeah, thought so."

[@samichgrrl]

Hammond nailed it. The voice, the slight lisp. A true master.

[@sbalcooldlamini6867]

"...are these glasses gettin bigger or is my face shrinking....you decide" 😂😂😂 killed me

[@christosioannou9628]

I don’t know why, but the Letterman throwing pencils but it was hilarious to me

[@mackagan321]

Bill´s Conan looks so perfect

[@stevenloube6784]

Not really. It’s just the hair. But there is no impression here at all.

[@johnulcer]

@@stevenloube6784 I love Bill but I agree. Not much of an impression.

[@toikutoassumi8381]

@@stevenloube6784 he didn't say anything about impression,he just said he looked good as Conan .

[@stevenloube6784]

@@toikutoassumi8381 I didn’t say he did. I said he doesn’t look incredible, just the hair. Then added more to my post.

[@toikutoassumi8381]

@@stevenloube6784 sorry buddy my bad I didn't read it right.

[@sethlarson9433]

Holy smokes Hammond NAILED that Leno impression! So subtle but so overt, a true master.

[@username_undefined]

Conan will live on as the funniest and most genuine late night host of all time!

[@joelabed9358]

No, that would be Craig Ferguson

[@ohmygoshitscole]

Doesn’t just have to be one

[@bmla88]

Or carson

[@mwebb999]

Said nobody ever

[@worthless_opinion]

​@@joelabed9358 Ferguson was good, but he was a little too sleezy/weird at times. And a little too self-centered. Conan has a way of elevating the guest and directing humor at himself that makes him the best.

[@coosoorlog]

David Letterman, the horror movie, directed by David Lynch.

[@vardellsfolly5200]

One of David's flying pencils got me.

[@JDillander91]

Darrell Hammond once again proving he is a master impressionist

[@Annibals]

*"You went to Harvard do you think you can build yourself a time machine"*

[@fezzik7619]

That’s the line we all heard him say in the video. Thanks for writing it down.

[@paulthompkins4150]

Darrell Hammond is truly one of the most UNDERAPPRECIATED cast member ever on SNL.

[@bboooobbyy]

Really?? because his Leno here is fucking atrocious and Leno is not a hard guy to impersonate

[@wilmafistfit4788]

@@bboooobbyy delusion

[@sonyawalker9212]

WHAT?????? SO APPRECIATED!!!!!!

[@pakde8002]

Who?

[@holycrab6316]

@@bboooobbyyMuppet. Watch his Bill Clinton, Sean Connery and Donald Trump's impression just to mention a few.

[@p.art4705]

Letterman looks like he came straight out of an R.L Stine book.

[@wynweeardo0593]

Bill Hader's impression of Conan was perfect!! but Sudeikis tho--

[@JDillander91]

Was terrible we know

[@JDillander91]

@Jim McCracken dude it was fucking terrible. All he did was do his laugh.

[@marksoquetjr4693]

The Letterman impression was hilarious

[@radhiadeedou8286]

I know criticizing hader is a sin but his Conan isn't really good, makes me believe that Conan is unimpressionable cause if bill can't do it no one can

[@oui2611]

how was it perfect do you even watch conan

[@ODUBlue]

Sudekis giggling, muttering gibberish and throwing pencils is EVERYTHING 😂 Such a funny take on Dave

[@VnayKarr]

It's amazing that hader playing conan was so quiet all the while

[@simretsekhon586]

The fact that Bill Hader and Conan are friends now

[@hairypenis5370]

Simret Sekhon ur dumb....they had meet several times on the other show... U think Hader could only have done this impression if Conan wasn’t his friend?

[@matthale8090]

I was gunna say.... Pretty sure they were friends before... I'm not gunna be so mean about it, like other people 😆

[@jmsmith1767]

They kiss SO HARD

[@guptageneralstores5243]

Conan is like his idol mate. They know each other from a really long time

[@twinkieman237]

They’ve been friends for a while lol

[@MHLegacy]

I love how they added shoulder pads to Fred Armisen's costume to give that weird shoulder dip that Larry King had.

[@sstaners1234]

In hindsight: Conan > Leno

[@ethanh6370]

Yeah I feel like everyone could see that in foresight, too. We'll, everyone except NBC execs...

[@mr.monkeypaws4019]

Duh

[@mikequinlivan8842]

No, not even in hindsight. In real time. Actually, before it even happened.

[@uosdwiSrdewoH]

That was always the case. Leno is a hack. Apparently he was somewhat respected as a stand up but lost the edge when he got into late night at which point he forced out Johnny Carson, screwed Letterman, stole the show back from Conan and finally passed the show to Fallon.

[@Khronogi]

Enough! Both Conan and Leno are funny, whoever is 'funnier' is a matter of preference. It's been a decade, let the feud go already. This hate for Leno is a tireless bandwagon trope. It's the same as everyone hating on SNL and saying it isn't as funny as whatever time period they found nostalgic.

[@antoniodragonheart8965]

The Letterman parody is hilarious.

[@declanmar7]

I’m a big Letterman fan and it was SO on point.

[@msoileau83]

Agree.

[@JeffReams]

Jason Sudeikis turned his Letterman impression up to an 11. Pure nightmare f u e l.

[@danieldougan269]

Darrell's Jay Leno impression is on point.

[@MAINEVENT99]

"yoa ya heeheeheeheeheehee ya hwaa ya ya ya" -David Letterman, SNL

[@AidenJustPlayin]

Oh cool a wwe fan!(im not being rude im a wrestling fan also)

[@MAINEVENT99]

@@AidenJustPlayin hi bro

[@AidenJustPlayin]

@@MAINEVENT99 You play wrestling revolution also,nice

[@MAINEVENT99]

@@AidenJustPlayin yes but nowdays barely got time because school

[@GreyHulk2156]

The exaggerated lunacy of David Letterman is spot on. :)

[@wta1981]

I can’t believe I’m just seeing this skit for the first time. They crushed this one. All 4 performances are so good

[@Pariahmachina]

Best Letterman impression ever!

[@Sweet.Mother.of.Cheesus]

I love Sudeikis, but his impression here reminded me more of the Joker than Letterman ^^

[@ThePoushal]

See Norm Macdonald's Letterman impression.

[@MrGSfan]

Pariah machina He can mimic the laughter of Dave

[@dasbistel29]

Norm's so much better

[@andrewcramer9200]

Chiming in 6 years later to tell some commenters that Sudeikis SEEMED to be overdoing it for comedic effect. Just laughing, grunting and throwing pencils at the camera, reducing Letterman to something below a caricature. It was a pretty good impression of Letterman's fake laugh as I remember it.

[@anandprahlad5434]

2:55 OMG this is hilarious! Those are "forward" slashes. 😂🤣

[@Lori-lp6uc]

They all did great. Jason's Letterman is my favorite!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@siamandhaniya2083]

Darrell Hammond's impression is AMAAAAAAAAZINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[@assmane999]

Jason’s letterman impression is so funny, and Darrel is just a freakin’ legend

[@litchick2715]

RIP Mr. King

[@faboze]

DARRELL HAMMOND WAS PERFECT

[@marksoquetjr4693]

They always overdo it with the chin. He didn't need the chin to get him down.

[@Ernie1978]

This David Letterman is more Joker than the Joker himself. Yikes!

[@DBREW]

This is one of those weird sketches where the crowd wasn't into it at the time, but is a hoot even today. All comedic heavyweights at the top of their game.

[@babababad]

I'm not surprised the audience was tepid. None of the impressions quite land, and there's no overall comedic concept to the sketch to give it momentum.

[@noahfreeman9420]

3:18 that David Letterman impression is spot on

[@vlada1582]

holy shit Bill is so good at impersonating Conan

[@nurmadihahbintizulkifli1734]

@Samu Tyrväinen yeah im confused. im a big fan of bill and now i've watched a lot of conan's vids too, starting to become a fan and im so confused, was conan really that silent and sad when he was on nbc or wut ? why is that a good impression? because he's not like that according to his videos on tbs. like i said i love bill but this kinda disappoint me

[@Nueztoy]

@@nurmadihahbintizulkifli1734 Conan was a writer at SNL and respected by most of these cast. I think the sketch is suppose to be Conan as the only sane person.

[@jk6491]

@@nurmadihahbintizulkifli1734 Conan will sometimes make a fake sad face (to make the crowd go "awww") that looks a bit like the face Bill is making throughout the sketch.

[@cesarmadero05]

@@nurmadihahbintizulkifli1734 Watch the 60 minutes interview of Conan post firing and Bill nails his serious voice. He is not making the TV persona, sometimes it feels he is gloomy, and of course he is sad he is losing the job.

[@CHilla415]

@@nurmadihahbintizulkifli1734 It's a very restrained impression, not the typical when the performer will exaggerate or take the personification cranked up to 11; but it's actually pretty spot on if you ever watch interviews with Conan. He can be very low-key, and Hader actually does a pretty good job at mimicking that. It may not seem like much if you haven't seen Conan in those situations, but yeah his impression is pretty good.

[@maimaibacay]

“Captain suspenders 1906” 🤣

[@OhSankYouDoktor]

The Letterman impression was hysterical!!!

[@michaelbiscay9836]

As much as I love Fred and Jason, watching this just made me miss Norm's versions of both characters.

[@ggsilik]

Hey, you got any gum?

[@ChunkOcoal]

They both did great but Norms was just on another level

[@ColeyHinson91]

Love the Letterman impression... completely over the top.

[@barbarabrennan1753]

Heeheehee

[@tangerinedreamsicle]

This Letterman is the scariest Batman villain i've ever seen- It's "Lead Poisoning" with Pencil Tossing Action!

[@thisurlisoriginal]

RIP Larry King

[@sammeo]

Dave letterman here is truly remarkable

[@ethanaleman]

lol rest in peace Larry

[@brace110]

Those are forward slashes not backslashes

[@BrainDeadz]

Yes, that's the joke

[@mavoc3094]

@@BrainDeadz Is it though, or was the writer just mistaken?

[@patmandew22]

@@BrainDeadz no the joke was that he spelled out ... calling those backslashes is a very common mistake, hardly anyone uses: \

[@sandrastokes9847]

Captain suspenders 1906😂😂😂😂

[@gibustheinfamous]

"Err....ehehehehe!" - David Letterman

[@solvseus]

RIP Larry, and Conan's show. F Leno.

[@malecyoung1870]

This is the only time I've ever seen someone other than Larry King play Larry King

[@lifepsycho123]

I love Naturday Light Sive!!!!

[@calebmauer1751]

Calling the forward slashes back slashes is great, so many news people do that.

[@markdavies9117]

Darrell Hammond's Leno - wow. Stuff I forgot Jay would do. Talent.

[@stevenjunor503]

Love the Letterman impression. Spot on!

[@luckyDancer100]

Bill and Conan are good friends in real life, so this is hilarious

[@gregwatson8219]

Friendship dont exist in business

[@paxvostrum4824]

how come i see it only now? This is brilliant!!! All impressions are spot on!

[@stevenloube6784]

Maybe because the sketch is so bad that they were trying to hide it?

[@benjizucker6091]

R.I.P Larry King

[@hugonongbri8100]

Norm's Letterman was the best 😆

[@calessel3139]

Hammonds Leno is by far the best I've ever heard.

[@msminmichigan]

Hader doesn't do a very good Conan impression but he captures how serious and depressed Conan was at the time.

[@TheMijman]

He does a really good one in parts. Close you eyes, and he's definitely got his cadence right

[@alabarjhoni9742]

thats one theory

[@lukeanil1336]

If u close ur eyes it's sounds perfectly like Conan

[@georgiemp44]

Bill suits red hair.

[@charlespecaut303]

How many pencils did he throw?!? 😂 Did anyone keep a tally? Lol

[@UssyMustyYS]

RIP, Larry King.

[@tomkurtz3848]

All three of them were spot on

[@docfreakbeast]

0:18 "Conan Is Out" hits different today!

[@twinkieman237]

ALL of these impressions were spot on. Such an underrated SNL class

[@monsieuraout]

I was surprised *NBC* gave *SNL* permission to make fun of what was going down at _Late Night_ specially letting them take jabs at Leno.

[@pradhyudh]

If ratings of snl go down ,they will shoot a porn and telecast it live

[@areyoufriendly]

Right? Totally unbelievable. It probably went like this: * ring ring * Hello, this is NBC. Hey, it’s SNL. We got a pretty good sketch for our cold open this week involving the recent late night show debacle. We’re gonna have to make a couple jokes at your expense and Leno too. May we please do that? Well.....I suppose. But it better get laughs and not hurt our ratings! Of course! What about Leno? We’ll smooth it over with him, don’t you worry SNL. Thanks NBC! We won’t let you down! “Permission” 😅😅

[@matthewlodel3115]

SNL has made fun of NBC before...

[@ZBritt92]

Wait till this guy hears of 30 Rock

[@tinob.4375]

These guys are awesome

[@Stehako]

Love the Carson Daly dig at the end

[@cesarmadero05]

"Ayyyee, You got any gum? Hahahahaaaa! Heheheeee!" - David Letterman

[@Sharky165]

But DO you know the story behind "got gum" ?? THAT is the question !

[@MurdochMMQCR]

Sudeikis did a good job as Letterman

[@blindsightedkill]

R.I.P Larry King 🤴

[@randomtees]

Hammond should've been a permanent SNL cast member. He's so versatile.

[@Rougarou99]

He was from 1995 to 2009. He became the announcer in 2014 after Don Pardo’s passing, so he is always around.

[@stevethomas2285]

@@Rougarou99 I thought his Leno was very good.

[@Rougarou99]

@@stevethomas2285 He is an amazing impressionist. His Sean Connery, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump were amazing.

[@phil-ys3cf]

he is one of the longest serving cast members ever... how did u miss that lol

[@SGTDuckButter]

Freaking Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@2timesloveequalslove]

I love how kooky this sketch is! I miss this goofiness

[@mookow2]

Tonight on Larry King... Why do I keep seeing Jason's Letterman in my cold sweat nightmares?

[@wadball]

My god the lettermen part had me rolling

[@nannerz1994]

Bill want even doing an impression i love it

[@cakredi4132]

Carson Daly's off camera the entire time :)

[@HeyCupertino]

Sheesh. Darrell Hammond's voice work is superb.

[@aliceeldmond8252]

Omg Fred Armisen is so hiliarious.

[@faykguru]

Almost impossible to beat Hammond at impressions, but Hader *nailed* this - hilar

[@arthurhirschfeld5878]

Fred Armisen does a pretty good Larry King but I think Norm MacDonald did the best Larry King and David Letterman impressions.

[@johnmilhuisen2607]

Brilliant

[@cleverusername9369]

Bill playing his good buddy Conan is hilarious

[@benvoliothefirst]

Now we know where Cobra Kai stole the "pronouncing the whole web address" joke from, lol

[@wizkid915]

Five of the best players ever to feature on SNL right here in this sketch

[@joeiijames]

Darrel Hammond an absolute legend of impressions

[@alabarjhoni9742]

you appreciate him. let me appreciate you so that you can appreciate me. lets make whoppee baby

[@bradfromthevalley]

I used to pick up the box for Leisure Suit Larry when I would go to the old SOftware Stores...Brick and Mortar Software..it was like a built in Easter Egg.

[@daliavazquez7480]

I miss Larry king he interview a lot of famous people god the nostalgia

[@ashanmahendran96]

RIP Larry King :(

[@Zetsuke4]

lol leno’s put back gesture

[@j.alawagmanansala4603]

i came her to mourn Larry King's passing.

[@koala201211]

Holy shit, I didn't believe you and had to go check. RIP Larry King.

[@MinSugaCheonjae]

It is all forward slashes

[@MrGSfan]

Compare 1:14 to this part of Letterman's retirement announcement "Leslie, it’s been great, you’ve been great, and the network has been great, but I’m retiring,’”

[@kellenwang3335]

Rip larry

[@NemohHoes]

No one can ever get Larry King right. Reason... The man is one of a kind

[@mwebb999]

I guess the cast member with the best Letterman impression at the time could only laugh and throw a pencil